The present invention relates to a new and improved construction of apparatus for infeeding textile band material to a consumer.
Generally speaking, the apparatus for the infeed of textile bands of material to a consumer, especially for the infeed of a sliver or the like which has been deposited in a can to a spinning machine, contains a transport tube or pipe extending between a feed location and the consumer. The term "sliver" as used in the context of this disclosure is employed in its broader sense to cover slivers, slubbing, roving and generally band-like materials.
At textile machines which process slivers which have been deposited in cans, it is conventional practice to accomplish the sliver transport between the can and the textile machine by means of transport tubes or pipes, within which there prevails a transport air flow or current generated by a negative pressure source provided at the textile machine. Such equipment, which for instance replace conventional creels at drafting arrangements, basically operate in an extremely satisfactory fashion. However, the infeed of new slivers with the prior art equipment is at least still cumbersome. The transport air flow generated by the negative pressure source, as a general rule, is not adequate in order to seize the starting portion of the sliver, unless such sliver starting portion is inserted over a sufficient length thereof manually into the related transport tube. In other instances, the transport air current, during the sliver infeed, cannot be maintained since the machine needed for drawing-in the new slivers must be opened.
Furthermore, each drawing-in of a new sliver requires a movement of the operator between the machine and the inlet opening of the transport tube and back again, something which is particularly significant in terms of increased operating and servicing time of the equipment when working at large machines, for instance flyers, having over one hundred spindles.